Americans Give Up Landlines for Cell Phones

Results of a new study show in detail what many have suspected all
along: Mobile phones will be the death of the landline.

According to a study
by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), one out of
every four American families does not own a landline phone. Instead, 25
percent of American households are only using mobile phones. Further
reinforcing the primacy of mobile phones, the study found that 15
percent of families that do own landlines receive all or almost all
calls through wireless phones.

The study was carried out between July and December of 2009 and
included information from more than 21,000 American families.

What the study found was solid evidence of the migration towards
mobile technology that has been happening for years. It's no coincidence
that the NCHS study also found the numbers of mobile-only phone users
skewed to a younger demographic. These people reached adulthood as the cell
phone became commonplace. Nearly 50 percent of 25-year-olds did not
live in a household with a landline. The vast majority of exclusive
cell phone users were under the age of 40.

The study does point out that even though younger adults are more
likely to live without landlines, the number of mobile-only adults has
increased over the last six years for every age group. The number of
families that do not have any telephone service at all, meanwhile, has
stayed unchanged for the last few years at around two percent.

The NCHS study turned up more interesting results about people likely
to shun landlines. Over 40 percent of home renters had no landlines and
were 14 percent more likely to have no landlines than home owners. And
those at or near the poverty line were 20 percent more likely to only
have mobile
phones than their counterparts. Not only does refusing a landline
make people more mobile, it's a cost-cutting maneuver.

Of course, one of the biggest questions resulting from the study is
"What's a health statistics organization doing conducting surveys about
phone lines?"

The study was meant to point out that phone surveys, including health
surveys, conducted on landline accounts are no longer representative of
the public as a whole because a large portion of the public isn't
available by landline.

Naturally, the study did not mention that one of the things mobile
users missed least about landlines is hearing the words "Do you have a
moment to take a quick survey?"